Short Summary

The countdown leading up to the launch of the Apollo 14 moonship is proceeding to schedule and barring unexpected setbacks astronauts Shepard, Mitchell and Roosa will be on their way to the moon on January 31.

Description

The countdown leading up to the launch of the Apollo 14 moonship is proceeding to schedule and barring unexpected setbacks astronauts Shepard, Mitchell and Roosa will be on their way to the moon on January 31.

The three astronauts have now entered virtual solitary confinement. Between now and their launch time the astronauts will be in quarantine to prevent them being infected by earth germs. The measures have been in effect since the Apollo 13 mission when astronaut Ken Mattingly was replaced on the eve of blast-off because he had been exposed to German measles.

Apollo 14 with crewmen Alan Shepard, Ed Mitchell and Stuart Roosa, is the fourth American moonshot. Two have been successful, Apollo 11 and 12, while the third was aborted after an explosion in the space craft. Scientists at NASA say they have located the fault in Apollo 13 and the January 31 moonshot will go like clockwork.

In the few past weeks the three astronauts have been carrying out a series of simulated exercises they'll perform on the moon. It's planned the spacemen will land in the heavily catered and hilly Fra Mauro region, the same landing site selected for Apollo 13.

Space "veterans" Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell, two of the three crewmen of Apollo 14 have just finished a long series of exercises leading up to their blast-off on January 31.